Dangerous Animals‘s serial killer Tucker has a dangerous fixation on sharks, but where does it come from? The 2025 thriller was directed by Sean Byrne, an Australian filmmaker who made his debut with the 2009 horror movie The Loved Ones, which earned a near-perfect, Certified Fresh score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. His newest movie is a co-production between Australia and the United States that features an international cast including American actor Hᴀssie Harrison (Yellowstone, Tacoma FD) alongside Australian stars Josh Heuston (Heartbreak High), Ella Newton (Girl at the Window), Liam Greinke (Latecomers), and Rob Carlton (Chandon Pictures).
However, the key figure in 2025’s Dangerous Animals is Australian actor Jai Courtney, who plays Tucker. Tucker is a serial killer who runs a cage-diving business out of Queensland, Australia, as a front for his murderous activities. Over the course of the movie, he kidnaps two women and traps them in a room deep inside his boat, namely Heather (Newton), who he imprisons after she cage-dives with a male companion who Tucker kills, and Zephyr (Harrison), a surfer he abducts off the shore. However, it is revealed that he has kidnapped many other women before the events of the movie.
Jai Courtney’s Tucker Uses Sharks To Kill His Victims
Tucker Records His Victims’ Deaths & Stores Them In His Ship
Tucker might be the most villainous character for Jai Courtney yet, even though the Suicide Squad star played Captain Boomerang in the DC Extended Universe and the dangerous H๏τhead Bob in the Netflix heist series Kaleidoscope. This is because, in addition to kidnapping and emotionally torturing his victims, Tucker’s M.O. involves murdering them by dangling them over shark-infested waters.
Courtney appeared as Captain Boomerang in both 2016’s Suicide Squad and 2021’s The Suicide Squad.
Additionally, he videotapes his victims being devoured by sharks so he can watch the killings play out over and over. He also takes a lock of each victim’s hair and attaches it to the side of each videotape, which is depicted in a chilling scene that details the scope of his collection and just how many victims he has claimed over the years.
Tucker Survived A Shark Attack When He Was A Child
The Shark Attack Traumatized Him To The Point Of Inflicting The Same Pain On Others
The fact that Dangerous Animals blends a killer shark movie with a serial killer thriller is unique, and screenwriter Nick Lepard (Keeper) had to find a way to justify that combination. As revealed early on in the movie, when Tucker is taking Heather and Greg (Greinke) out into open water, the solution is buried deep in Tucker’s backstory. He reveals that he was the victim of a shark attack when he was younger, when a great white took a huge bite out of him, leaving behind a scar that still stretches across the side of his torso.
He seems to have an insatiable hunger for witnessing shark attacks…
While Tucker does not offer an explicit explanation for his activities beyond sharing this story, it seems that this traumatic event triggered a fascination for the sheer power of sharks and the danger they pose to humans. This would explain why he treats his slayings as a show, for which he is a rapt audience both during the “live event” and while watching the recordings later on. He seems to have an insatiable hunger for witnessing shark attacks, as he is seen watching a tape not long after feeding Heather to the sharks in person.
Tucker Metaphorically Feels Like A Predator When He Abducts His Victims
It Gives Him A Sadistic Feeling Of Power
In addition to a shark attack being central to his backstory, Tucker reveals that he has many thoughts and opinions about the hierarchy of animals. Over the course of his interactions with Zephyr, he compares their personalities and behavior to a variety of aquatic creatures, both predator and prey. However, it is clear that he believes himself to be an apex predator, either similar to the sharks or – more likely – even above the sharks themselves.
His sadistic joy at feeling like a lethal predator, which may be reᴀssuring after facing a traumatic shark attack in his youth, is what propels him to commit many heinous acts in Dangerous Animals. However, as proven by his cat and mouse game with Zephyr, and eventually her love interest Moses (Heuston) as well, he may have grown overconfident about his place in the food chain.
